"Okay guys, so here's the plan." Naruto gestured with his hand and eyed his two children sitting on the sofa in front him. Their backs were straightened and their ears perked up, hanging on every syllable that left their farther's mouth.

"We don't exactly know when your mother will be back, maybe tonight maybe not until tomorrow. But we still have some stuff to do before she comes home." Boruto and Himawari nodded understandingly, waiting for him to continue.

"First, there is a lot of laundry to do, then you two have to clean the mess in your room and we have to make something for dinner." Their expressions darkened and the children grunted quietly, narrowing their shoulders again.

"Hey, I know it's a lot but we can do this," Naruto exclaimed and raised his clenched fist heatedly. The children shouted agreeing with in response.

"Team Uzumaki, are you ready?" Naruto stretched his hand out and lowered it to their reach. The boy and the girl jumped down from their seats and put their hands on his before together they raised them into the air and shouted in euphoria, like they always did when the older called them "Team Uzumaki". It had become something like an encouraging ritual they did whenever the family had to do things like chores.

Naruto grinned at his descendants but then put on a pretended serious expression.

"First mission, laundry!" He raised a finger into the air and turned towards the doorway to the yard, before he marched forward.

"Laundry!" Boruto and Himawari echoed and followed him, exaggeratedly wielding their arms, like ducklings following their mother.

The sun broke through the clouds and illuminated the grounds with its blazing light and warmth. The winter had already said good bye and Konoha welcomed the slowly approaching spring, whose lively colors tried to brighten up the village bit by bit.

The grass in the Uzumaki's yard had regained its luscious green and the buds raised from their winter sleep, leaving Naruto and Hinata in anticipation of their garden's soon recovered glorious beauty, they had spent hours of gardening to attain.

Outside two laundry lines, which run parallel, were graced with white fabric, glowing in the rays of the sun. The family took down the dry clothing in a swift pace, whereby Naruto took them off the line and handed them over to his children, who folded them messily to place them in a big blue plastic basket.
The enthusiastic mood decreased when they had to hang up the colorful moist washing after finishing. The scent of detergent of the freshly washed clothing spread in the air.

But the supplies didn't seem to end. Naruto had always wondered how a small family of four could possibly produce this amount of laundry within a few days.
In the corner of his eye he observed how Himawari jumped up and down, trying to reach the laundry line with the clothespin in her hand. The three-year-old was far from any contact with the line but didn't surrender and instead bent her knees further before she jumped. Naruto chuckled as Boruto watched her in a confused manner, since he didn't understand what she was trying to do.

"Himawari, what are you doing?" Naruto turned towards his daughter.

"I want to help you," she answered without hesitation "but I'm too small," the girl added, now facing her farther but then lowering her glimpse to the yellow pin in her tiny hands. Naruto scratched his chin and pondered before he kneed down.

"In that case you have no other choice but fly." He picked up one of his dry shirts and knotted its sleeves around her neck, the white fabric covering her back completely. Then he lifted her to the line where she successfully pinned the other side of a clothing, Naruto had been in the midst of hanging up. The gesture triggered a wide smile on her face when he set her down again.

He grinned at her but was interrupted when Boruto pulled at his pants leg. The boy had tried to kink a shirt around him too, but it rather looked like a scarf than a cape.

"Me too," he mumbled as he showed his father the pin in his hand. "I want to fly too." Naruto laughed behind closed lips as he stroked the little's head.

"How could I forget about you." He did the same thing with Boruto whereas Naruto embraced his child with one arm and held up the wet towel with his other hand. The boy smiled likewise brightly, as if his fathers arms were the most enjoyable ride in an amusement park.

"Now it's Himawari's turn again," the girls resounded at his side. Naruto snickered. He detained himself from reminding his children that it wasn't playtime right now. His desire to elicit their smiling faces was greater than his wish to complete the chores as fast as possible.

Nevertheless the laundry was soon finished however resulting in a short game of hide and seek behind the curtains of white clothing hanging from the lines before they went inside again. Naruto left the glass door open to renew the air inside the house and faced the younger ones again.

"Mission One complete." He stretched out his flat hand so that they could high five each other.

"And now to mission number two." He showed them two fingers as he proceeded. "You have to clean up your room while I have to iron the things we just took down." They nodded with fervid sparks glinting in their eyes.

"Good, are you ready Team Uzumaki?" The three repeated their ritual and after that scattered to their designated tasks. The older didn't avert his eyes from their backs until they disappeared in their room.

Naruto carried on with the dull chore of ironing in silence and thereby listening to the noises of his children and their recurring discussions on where to put a certain toy.
A sudden rumpus caused Naruto's head to up.

"Hey, everything alright?" He had already put down the flatiron and took a step towards the children's room.

"It's fine, no need to come inside," he heard Boruto calling. Naruto's startled expression broke into a snicker.

"Try not to break anything."

He should stop to be so surprised, he thought. His children weren't really the quiet type. It was the very opposite. They were noisy and lively, brightening up the mood with their sole presence. There was no use in trying to hide that he loved it. Hinata had once told him, that he was exactly like that when he was younger. He remembered how happy he felt, when she said that his vividness had always cheered her up because now he understood the feeling of lightening up from just a simple smile.

"Done!" With rapid footsteps his children appeared in front of him again.

"Are you sure? Is it really ready for inspection?" Naruto playfully raised an eyebrow and monitored Boruto and Himawari locking their eyes with each other before vanishing together with a hasty "Wait!".
It didn't take them more than just a few seconds to show up once more. They gave their father a confident nod.

The following procedure had to be undergone whenever the children had to clean up their room. Since the two weren't just perky but also quite sharp. They had come up with methods of stowing away their things everywhere but their determinate places in hope of their parent's inability to find them.

Naruto roamed the room diligently without missing any shelf, cupboard or corner. Boruto and Himawari stood side by side and watched him nervously.

"Not bad." The older nodded every now and then while he made his circuit. He stopped between the beds and bend down to look under them, just to find it empty. No matter how meticulous this looked, it had to be done, since the children once had the brilliant idea to hide all their stuff under their beds.

"Well done." The visible relaxation of their shoulders triggered a smirk on Naruto's face.

"Since I'm finished too, let's see what we can make for dinner." The little ones shouted in agreement before altogether they walked in the direction of the kitchen.

It was already the middle of the night when front door opened and a rather tired Hinata stepped into the house. She quietly closed the door behind her and took off her shoes, letting out a moan when she had to bend down. The inside of the house warmed her up and she sighed as her body unfroze steadily from her head to her toes. No matter how near the spring was, the nights were still cold.

She ran her hand through her shoulder-length hair and moved towards the children's room. She was confused since Himawari's nightlight wasn't on and a peek into the room assured her in the assumption that the children weren't in their beds.
She looked around but all the rooms were pitch black, so she strode into her and Naruto's bedroom.

Her family laid there side by side on the big bed and any attempts in suppressing a wide smile would have been useless. Naruto had each an arm around each of his children as they had rested their heads on his chest, which slowly moved up and down in sync with his breathing.
Hinata watched their sleeping faces motionless and took a deep breath as if she could inhale the contentment this scene evoked in her.

She stroked Himawari's hair lightly before she went around the piece of furniture and laid down on her side of the bed, with the greatest care her exhausted limbs could possibly bare. She shifted closer to the threesome and sighingly set her head on a pillow. The bedding caressed her skin and offered to get rid of her fatigue. The thought of washing up before sleeping was already banished as she closed her eyes welcoming the coveted sleep.

"Hinata, you're back." Naruto's husky whispering voice caught Hinata's attention and her head stirred up in a way her eyes could catch a glimpse of the blue they had longed for.

"Yes." She smiled at him and rested her head again, watching out to not disrupt their eye contact.

"Are you okay? Do you have any injuries?" he asked to hopefully settle the worries, he always had when Hinata went on a mission. She subtly shook her head.

"Everything's fine. I'm just tired that's all."

"Good." He sensed the spread of ease in his body.

In that moment Boruto turned around and buried his nose in his mothers bosom, one of his arms enveloping her. He didn't wake from his slumber but mumbled something incomprehensible into her shirt. Hinata patted his back and brushed his hair softly.

"They wanted to wait for you but fell asleep."

"Mhm," she resounded. Naruto tenderly fondled her bangs with his fingers and rubbed her cheek. He wanted to kiss her so badly but restrained since waking up the kids wasn't really desirable.

"They constantly asked about you. They really missed you," he whispered as he drew Himawari closer to him. "We missed you."
Hinata blinked slowly. She loved to hear those words.

"I missed you too."

A renowned feeling came around as he watched his wife caressing their son. Naruto had always wanted somebody to come home to. Somebody who would greet him with a smile when he entered his house. This image had become one of his most required wishes.
With Hinata he had achieved this dream but also uncovered something just as delighting. The feeling when someone you have spent hours waiting for came home. He had never imagined how simple things like these could please him the way they did. It was remarkable but indescribably lovely.

"Hinata," he breathed. The woman looked up at him and he took a few seconds to just wander his eyes over her facial features. "Welcome home."

Reviews are really appreciated~